Animania
by ayushi
Summary: Welcome to Animania. A town where all your favorite anime characters lead a normal school life. Follow the happenings at this town narrated through the eyes of the one, the only, Ash Ketchum. [Pokemon/Digimon/Beyblade] [Pokeshipping/TyHil/Taiora/Mimato]
1. Cafe's and Cub Houses

_Welcome to Animania_

_Summary: A town where all your favorite anime characters lead a normal school life. Requests are taken, if you want your favorite character to appear in this story. Follow the happenings at this town narrated through the eyes of the one, the only, Ash Ketchum._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and Jay Ketchum._

_Chapter One_

_Café's and Club Houses_

_But I'm a million different people  
>from one day to the next<br>I can't change my mind  
><em>

The brightly lit café was bustling with noise and activity as Ash Ketchum made his way through between tables and chairs full of high school students. He smiled at the ones he knew and frowned at the ones he didn't. School would be back on in a week and everyone was enjoying the few days of freedom. Everyone except him. He was _working_.

He sighed as he finally reached Table 7. Ash set the tray down at the table and smiled at the customer. He was surprised to see that only one person had ordered so much food.

He looked at the boy with the straw hat, "Anything else?" he asked cheerfully.

"That's all for now." The guy gave him a huge smile with one hand holding on to the straw hat firmly.

Ash walked around the table and looked around to check if any new customers had entered and needed to place an order. His eyes searched the large café as he looked for new faces.

He wasn't usually the type to take a part time job, but this was his mother's café and they were short on servers this evening. The good thing about this was that he made some good money from the tips. The bad thing was that half his school hung out at the café and some kids would never miss an opportunity to take advantage of him in his vulnerable waiter state.

One of those kids was currently seated at a far off table and was beckoning him to come take his order. Ash groaned internally as he walked towards the table.

"What do you want Oak?" Ash asked monotonously. This happened almost every time Ash decided to help out at the café. It's as if Gary had some radar that predicted Ash's working hours.

"That's how you talk to your customers, _Ashy Boy_?" Gary snickered at him and the gang of lame-ass losers that always surrounded him, laughed at Ash.

Ash gritted his teeth at the sound of the much hated pet name.

When Ash made no effort to retort, Gary continued, "My order's not here yet."

"I'll see what I can do." Ash muttered and quickly walked towards the kitchens before Gary made another jab at him.

The inside of the kitchen was filled with even more chaos. His mom ordered around Cilan and Brock as they produced one good dish after another. Servers entered and exited as they tried to deliver on time. People bumped into each other on their way through the kitchen. Shouts and swearing was heard often until his mother silenced everyone and things were quite for a few minutes until someone dropped something and the cycle started again.

Ash bumped into Misty on his way in, "Did you take Gary's order?"

"No, he entered and smiled at me, I showed him the finger and told him to suck it." She replied with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Ash couldn't help but burst into a laugh, "Damn, I missed it."

"I was tempted to throw in a punch or two." Misty grinned.

"Oh, how I know that feeling." Ash muttered.

"Oye! You two! Quit your love talk and serve the food!" Brock shouted at them from across the kitchen.

Brock stopped working at his dish and looked up at the two red-faced teens and smiled smugly as he watched them deny the existence of any emotions other than that of pure friendship. Cilan chuckled next to him as Ash and Misty claimed they were nothing more than friends for the _nth_ time. Brock had lost count. He sighed and was about to pursue his merciless teasing when he was interrupted by the kitchen door opening once more.

Ash stepped aside as to make way for 13 year old Natsume Hyuuga.

"Sorry I'm late." Natsume announced in a bored tone.

Ash glared at the younger teen and a pair of crimson colored eyes stared back at him with a hint of annoyance.

"Why are you late exactly?" Ash asked with gritted teeth, while Misty took this opportunity to slip out and continue doing the work she was getting paid for.

Natsume looked up at Ash with his infamous death glare fixed on his face hoping to scare the older teen away. Ash cringed a little and the younger boy grinned inwardly.

But to his surprise, Ash stood his ground by swallowing the fear and raised his eyebrows in a somewhat annoyed manner, "I asked you something, didn't I?"

Natsume sighed, the glare usually worked on everyone, except dumb and naive girls with pigtails, "I was late because it's none of your business." He said coolly.

Ash's anger reached its peak and he dumped the apron on Natsume's head, "Get to work." He turned around to leave the kitchen as he was freed from the shackles of manual labour which involved watching other people eat delicious meals(a mighty painful task for our hero), when he remembered something, "Oh and Hyuuga, go handle Gary."

"Loser." He heard Natsume say.

"Pervert." Ash replied and left the kitchen before Natsume could take drastic actions against him. Ash slipped out of the kitchen through the back door and made his way up the stairs that led to his home. For mom's convenience they had decided to take the house over the café, as it made supervision on the café as well as Ash very easy.

He entered his home to find Jay sprawled out on the couch, watching TV. Ash ignored his greeting and continued walking towards his room. He heard Jay switch off the TV and follow him. Ash groaned internally, _why can't he leave me alone?_

"You free already?" Jay asked him cheerfully as he stood near the entrance of his room.

"Yup." Ash replied in an annoyed tone and shut the door.

Jay sighed as Ash slammed the door in his face. Another attempt at making civil conversation with his only son failed. He went back to the living room and resumed his position on the couch. Jay admitted that he was not a good father and leaving Delia and Ash, when he was only two months old to pursue his dreams of becoming a writer was selfish and foolish.

But it had been 8 years since his return and Ash still hadn't forgiven him. He never talked, even when Jay tried his best to interact. Hell, he didn't even call him dad for crying out loud.

Jay still remembered that day clearly.

A month after his return, Delia had scolded Ash for calling him Jay and not dad or father. And Ash had replied with his face devoid of any emotion but his brown eyes showing a hint of sadness and pain, _"I'll call him Dad when he starts acting like one."_

Hearing those words from your 8 year old son is not something you can easily forget. Ever since then he' worked hard to gain Ash's trust and respect. But no matter what he did, it wasn't enough for Ash. But Jay wasn't one to give up that easily, Ash was after all his son. Jay smiled as he remembered the day Ash was born and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Ash was annoyed. He cursed Jay for ruining his mood and tossed and turned till he found a comfortable position on the bed. His annoyance increased ten-fold as he stared at the photo frame on his bed side table. How many times had he tried to get rid of that photo but somehow his mom always managed to get it back and put it on his bedside table so that it would be the first thing he sees when he wakes up and the last before falling asleep. He stared at the five little boys in that photo. They looked so happy. He remembered that summer. He was six years old and at that time, to him, his life couldn't be any better…

"_It's too hot." Taichi complained._

"_You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place, so don't crib now Taichi." Tyson said as he continued working on his huge sand castle._

"_I know, but I didn't think the beach would be so hot." Taichi groaned._

"_It's May. What were you expecting, snowfall?" Yamato said sarcastically._

_Taichi glared at the blonde._

"_Please don't fight." Kai said in a small voice and his plea was unheard as Taichi and Yamato started their usual bickering and didn't stop until Tyson happily announced that the sand castle was done._

"_What do you think Ash? Big enough for you?" Tyson grinned proudly as four pair of eyes stared at the enormous sand castle with awe._

_Ash grinned and exclaimed happily, "It's awesome."_

"_Way to go Tys, it's huge!" Taichi said._

"_State the obvious." Yamato muttered while Ash circled the castle, chanting, "It's awesome! It's awesome! It's awesome!"_

_Kai kneeled down to examine the entrance to the fort and said, "Ash could probably crawl inside, since he's the shortest."_

_Ash stopped his chanting and glared at Kai, "I'm not short." He stated angrily._

_Kai sighed as he tried to explain, "Of course you're not short. What I meant was-"_

"_That you're the shortest out of the five of us." Yamato finished for him._

"_That's not true! I'm almost as tall as Taichi." Ash claimed._

"_Almost." Taichi teased him._

_Ash opened his mouth to retort when suddenly it struck him, his expression changed from that of anger to excitement._

"_We should have a club house!" He shouted happily._

_The four boys stared at him._

"_A club house?" Taichi scratched his head._

"_Um, Ash, the sand castle isn't exactly club house material." Tyson said._

"_What? Of course not! I wasn't talking about the sand castle, I'm not that stupid." Ash said grumpily. _

_The other four started snickering at him._

"_Nope, definitely not." Tyson laughed and Taichi grinned._

"_You're the smartest person I know." Yamato smirked._

"_Hn." Kai grunted._

_Ash's face fell, "Fine. Make fun of me as much as you want. I won't tell you about my super cool idea then." He stuck his tongue out at them. The snickers turned into amused laughter and Ash just glared at them._

"_We're sorry Ash!" Taichi and Tyson said together._

"_You're smart and tall." Yamato grinned at him._

"_Now please do tell us your super cool idea." Kai smiled at him (which he didn't do very often), so Ash forgot about the teasing and smiled back at him._

"_I know the perfect place for our club house."_

Ash woke up to the sound of knocking on his door, "Come in." he said in a sleepy voice.

Jay's head poked in, "Dinner's ready."

"Okay. Just give me a minute."

"Sure!" Jay smiled at him and closed the door as he left. Ash glanced at the photo again. He was standing in the middle, grinning like mad. On his left was a smiling Tyson, dragging a shocked Kai in the photo. On his right was Taichi making the victory sign with one hand and the other one wrapped around a smiling Yamato's neck. At that moment, Ash had thought that they'd stay friends forever.

But, boy, was he wrong.

_XXX_

List of Characters appearing in this chapter: Pokemon - Ash Ketchum, Misty Waterflower, Gary Oak, Brock, Cilan, Delia Ketchum. Digimon – Taichi Yagami, Yamato Ishida. Beyblade – Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari. Gakuen Alice – Natsume Hyuuga. One Piece – Luffy (Straw Hat Guy). Original Character: Jay Ketchum.

_A/N: Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and also pm me if you want any of your favourite characters to make an appearance in this story. Please mention how you want them to be portrayed as well! ^_^ R&R!_


	2. Hiding and Helping

A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update. But I was trying to get out of the shackles of examinations. And now that I'm finally free, you can expect more frequent updates. Thank you everybody who read the previous chapter and added this story in their favorites. Thank you **Jane Hawthorn**, for reviewing!

_Chapter Two_

_Hiding and Helping_

_Ano oozora ni todoku made_

_(Until we reach that big sky)_

_I Believe hitotsu no ashita he _

_(I Believe in that one tomorrow hey)_

Ash looked around, all clear, he thought to himself as he noticed no one was paying attention to him. He tiptoed out of the café kitchen and slowly edged out of the café, making sure that his mom didn't notice him. He sighed as he reached outside, mission accomplished, he smiled to himself. Just because he was at home lazing around all day didn't mean that his mom could make him work. He needed all the rest he could get before school started. And besides, Misty wasn't around today so there was no point in even pretending to help.

Ash roamed around the town aimlessly, looking for something to do. Instinctively he ended up on the beach. He walked barefooted on the sand, holding his sneakers in his hands. He smiled as he watched little kids play beach volleyball. Their ball landed a bit ahead of him, he picked it up and joined them. The little boys laughed as Ash chased them around the beach. He loved playing with kids. They never judged you. Unlike the teenagers of this town, he thought.

He came to an abrupt stop as he almost bumped into someone. Ash turned around quickly, wanting to get away before that person noticed him.

"Geez, watch where you're going Ketchum." He could feel Taichi's glare on his back.

Ash turned around and apologized, "Sorry about that."

The three boys came up to him, holding their ball, "Nii-chan, what's wrong?"

"You won't play with us?" A brown haired boy asked him, his big blue eyes watering.

"Are you lame or are you just lame?"

Ash cursed in his head, as he faced Taichi and the rest of the soccer team.

Daisuke snickered at him, "I mean paying with five year olds, don't you have any life?"

"I don't think he does Dai." Another one of them piped in and they all laughed.

Ash was used to people making fun of him so he ignored them and smiled at the blue eyed kid, "Of course I will!"

"When will you ever grow up?" Taichi muttered as Ash turned his back on him and ran after the three boys.

Ash whistled as he walked back home. The sun was setting and the streets were almost empty. This was a small town after all. After running around all day at the beach with the little kids, he was tired and was dreading going back home. What if he was dumped with cleaning duty because he skipped work and ran out without telling anyone? His whistle turned into a groan as he thought of mopping the floor and scrubbing spilt food off the table tops. And then the dishes of course.

Mom's going to be so mad, he thought.

As he neared the café. Ash started to think up of various plans that would keep him from getting dumped with the dirty work.

Maybe I could sneak into my room through the window and pretend that I'd been there all along. As Ash weighed the pros and cons, he accidently entered the café. As he realized his mistake, he ducked under the nearest table before anyone recognized him. He sighed as he scanned the area and found no sign of his mother.

A head poked in under the table, "Are you alright Ash?" Hilary smiled at him.

In his state of panic, Ash had chosen the one table which in normal circumstances he would have strictly avoided.

Tyson's table.

Tyson and Hilary were _THE _couple of Animania. They'd been together since they were kids and were still inseparable. It was an odd match really. Tyson with his short temper and '_give em hell'_ attitude and Hilary, a model student with a competitive streak. She had to do everything by the rules and Tyson always went against them. Which is probably the reason why they bickered all the time. But despite everything they were still together.

Ash remembered when Tyson used to ditch them to hang out with Hilary. Taichi used to hate her. He probably still does.

"I'm hiding from Mom so she doesn't blow up on me for disappearing for the whole day." He whispered. Ash could feel Tyson's glare penetrate through the table and reach him. He shuddered.

"I don't think your mom is that mad at you. She seemed to be in a good mood." Hilary told her.

Ash smiled at her and crawled out from under the table.

Ash had never hated Hilary.

Even when they were kids.

"_It's a race then!" Taichi grinned happily._

_The other four boys agreed and took their positions._

"_Ano, don't you think the racing till the woods is too far?" Six year old Hilary asked in an unsure voice. _

_It was Taichi's idea to race from the school courtyard to the woods, where their secret club house was. Obviously, Hilary didn't know about the club house so she was unsure about the boys going into the woods. Taichi scowled at her._

"_You're not even in the race so nobody cares what you think." He said to her._

_Hilary was taken back and Tyson glared at him, "It's okay Hil, we'll be fine." Tyson faced her with a smile._

"_Can we start already?" Taichi whined._

_The five boys took their positions and Hilary started the race. All five of them sprinted in the same direction and immediately Tyson and Taichi were in the lead. She watched as Kai and Yamato closed in on them. She was about to leave herself when she saw that Ash was lagging behind._

_She ran and caught up to him._

"_Are you alright Ash?" She smiled at him._

_He looked at her with sad brown eyes, "I'm not fast enough."_

_Hilary just smiled and offered him her hand, "That's okay, we can walk their together."_

_And they did. It was a long walk but Hilary did not let go of his hand the whole time. And when they reached the woods, she didn't even ask him why he needed to go inside. She just waved goodbye and left. _

"Maybe you can just sneak up to your room?" Hilary suggested.

"I want a free sundae for hiding you under my table." Tyson said grumpily.

"_Tyson!" _Hilary frowned at him_,_ "Ignore him." She smiled at Ash.

"Don't you dare ignore me Ketchum. I'm really serious about the free sundae."

"Wow, you are so unbelievable-"

Ash tuned out as he watched them bicker for a while and then Tyson said something which made Hilary laugh and just like that they were back to normal, laughing and joking.

And Yamato's voice echoed in his head, _"Tyson and Hilary fit together like two puzzle pieces."_

Ash smiled as he walked towards the kitchen. He was ready to face his mother and he didn't mind if he got stuck with dirty work. Nothing could bring his spirits down now. He was in an extremely good mood today. And as he was about to enter the kitchen, he heard Tyson shout, "Don't forget my free sundae!"

Ash turned around and grinned at him.

xxx

Characters appearing: Ash Ketchum (Pokemon), Taichi Yagami(Digimon), Daisuke Motomiya(Digimon), Tyson Granger(Beyblade),Hilary Tachibana (Beyblade)


	3. Photos and Problems

_A/N: So we're all just going to ignore the big elephant in the room which is the last update of the story and we're directly moving on to the Disclaimer._

**Disclaimer:** I don't own most of the people in the story. Yes I'm un-original like that. But I do own Jay and Charly. They are my bitches. Also the name Baratie belongs to Oda, just like my body and soul.

Song – 88 by LM.C

_Wasurete shimau daro_

_(You've probably forgotten by now)_

_katani tsumoru kanashimi wa_

_(When sorrow fell heavily on your shoulders,)_

_nagareru hoshi no te ni dakare_

_(But we were holding onto the hands of the stars)_

Photos and Problems

_The construction of the club house was going right on schedule. Stealing paint from Tyson's dad's workshop was a little tricky but the boys somehow managed. Just like they managed to fix and clean a 50 year old wooden shack. Tyson and Taichi were out painting the exterior red while Ash was helping Yamato set up the furniture. (A/N: By furniture they mean cardboard boxes and random junk they picked up but let's not burst their bubble shall we?) Kai hadn't showed up for 2 days and Ash was worried something had happened to him._

_"Ne Yama-kun, Kai-san is alright right?"_

_Yamato had no answer to Ash's question because he himself had no idea about what had happened to Kai. But for Ash's sake he put on a smile and nodded, not wanting to open his mouth because he was afraid that no words will come out. _

_"Where the hell have you been? Do you know how many times I called you? Why was your house empty?" _

_Tyson's loud voice reached Yamato and Ash and they ran outside hoping to see Kai. Kai was there alright. But his face held a blank expression and his eyes looked empty somehow. Yamato knew something was wrong but he couldn't stop Tyson._

_"Are you going to answer me or are you just gonna stand there looking like that?" _

_"Tyson give him a break!" Yamato glared at him._

_"I just want to know where he was." Tyson glared back._

_"At a funeral." _

_Kai's answer stunned the other four, "Whose funeral?" Taichi asked in a slow voice. _

_"My parents'." Kai's voice had lost all emotion, "They got into a car accident 2 days back. Both of them couldn't make it."_

_"Kai we're so sorry-" Yamato started but was cut off by Kai._

_"I came here to tell you that I can't play around with you guys anymore. I need some time alone. I'll come back when I'm ready."_

_But he never did._

-x-

"We should go out to dinner tonight. It's been a while since we had some alone time."

"Yes we should, I really do want to spend some time with you."

Do you know how awkward and uncomfortable it is to sit between your parents when they're making googly eyes at each other and trying to discuss their sex life? For your sake, I hope you don't.

"Can you guys please not do this when I'm sitting right in the middle?" Ash groaned loudly. His mom had insisted that the three of them watch a movie together and somehow Ash had ended up sitting in the middle. He really wanted them out of the house. Especially when his mom was giggling like a school girl. Which was ironic because she often told him to act his age, "Why don't you guys go to Baratie?" He suggested. If Jay was going to treat his mother like she deserved to be treated then might as well make him spend his money, thought Ash.

"Isn't that the new French restaurant that opened up?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, Sanji-senpai is the head chef there." Ash replied.

"Oh is that so? Then we have to go there. Sanji was always so sweet to me." His mom smiled.

For the first time in ages, Jay and Ash exchanged looks and rolled their eyes. His mother was so naive sometimes.

"Ash do you want to come with us too?"

And for the second time that night, Jay and Ash looked at each other, a kind of silent understanding forming between them.

"I think I'll sit this one out mum." Ash said.

"Yeah that'd be best." Jay nodded along.

It took them another hour to convince Delia that Ash would be fine on his own, and the cafe would be fine too and then a few more minutes as she dressed up. Both Jay and Ash sighed in relief as she finally announced that she was ready to leave.

Ash was just locking up the cafe when he noticed someone standing outside, waving at him. He frowned as he leaned into the glass door to get a better view of the person. HE groaned inwardly as he realized who it was.

"We're closed." He opened the door and held up the close sign.

"I know, I just wanted to talk to you." Said Charly, she grinned at him, "Can I come in?"

Ash shrugged and moved aside, allowing her to enter. He closed the door and went to pull down the chairs from the nearest table so that they could sit down and talk.

Ash looked at the visitor again, a little confused as to what she wanted to talk about. Charly Andou had only moved to the town a few years back. And ever since her first day in here she had never left Kai's side. Ash frowned at her as she tried to fish out something from her bag, "What exactly do you want to talk about?"

"Just a sec." Charly motioned him to wait as she finally pulled out whatever she was looking for from her bag. She held it up for him to see and grinned, "Mind telling me what this is?"

Ash scowled as the dreaded photo came back to haunt him, "No idea." He answered nonchalantly.

"No idea? You're in the photo, dumbass!" She glared at him. Ash knew from experience that dumbass was her favourite word, she used it very often. She'd made their previous year's substitute chemistry teacher cry by calling her that. But then the substitute was kinda Bipolar so no one really blamed Charly for that.

"Well so are four other people, one of whom happens to be your best friend." He glared at the photo. The smiling face of his six year old self annoyed him to no extent.

"I found this while helping Kai-chan clean his room. When I asked him what it was he just shrugged and told me to throw it away. And no way in hell was I gonna throw away this adorable little photo! So I came to you." She said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ash scoffed at the use of the word adorable for describing the photo. It was anything but adorable, "There are still three other people in that photo."

"Yeah but you're the most gullible Ketchum." She stated.

"I'm not gullible!" He scowled at her.

"Do you wanna know something Misty said about you the other day?" Charly smirked.

Ash's scowl disappeared as he asked her eagerly, "Misty said something about me?"

"See? Gullible! Misty doesn't even talk to me you dumbass!"

"That was really dirty, Charly." Ash said grumpily.

"No it wasn't. I was just proving my point." She sighed and then looked him straight in the eye, her light green eyes pierced through him as she asked, "Are you going to tell me or not?"

Ash took a deep breath and decided to stand his ground. Why should he ruin his mood and go back and recount all of that knowing very well that she won't believe him because according to her Kai was a nice person and everything was rainbows and sunshine when you're with him.

"No I'm not." He got up and held the door open, "And I'd like you to leave now."

She glared at him as she got up and grabbed her bag. She stuffed the photo back inside her bag and was just about to leave when she turned around one last time, "You know what the problem is with you guys? You think you're all so different and shit when in reality you're all just big dumbasses."

With those final words, Charly stomped out of the café and Ash slammed the door shut behind her.

Charly walked around kicking trash cans and taking out her frustration by scaring a puppy (which she later regretted because the puppy was kinda cute and she was sure she made him cry). She halted in the middle of the road and took a deep breath and made tied up her dirty blonde hair into a messy bun with a few strands falling out and covering her eyes. She had made up her mind. She was going to dig and dig and dig and not rest till she found out what happened. She took out the photo and looked at Kai's face, the surprised yet happy expression he had in the photo was something she had never seen on his face in real. So no matter what happened, she was going to get that expression back on his face at any cost.

She was going to find a solution to the problem and she was going to fix this broken friendship.

-x-

A/N: So for anybody who's still reading this the characters appearing are -Ash Ketchum (Pokemon), Delia Ketchum (Pokemon), Taichi Yagami (Digimon), Yamato Ishida (Digimon), Tyson Granger(Beyblade), Kai Hiwatari (Beyblade) , Sanji (One Piece)

Original Characters: Jay Ketchum and Charly Andou.


	4. Curses and Curiosity

A/N: So this was a pretty fast update, only because I wanted to dedicate this chapter to chibi-yachiru-chan who motivated (forced) me to pick up this story again. So, thank you!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to their respective owners. I really don't own much in this story.

Song - Tsuioku Merry-Go-Round - onlifecrew

_MERRY GO ROUND_

_mawaru yume no sekai ni_

_(Spinning in a world of dreams)_

_nokosareta kimi no yokogao_

_(The silhouette you left behind)_

_oi kakete asa o mukaeru_

_(Chases after the morning sun)_

Curses and Curiosity

_Tyson woke up with an annoyed look on his face, he looked at the clock which blinked 1:35 AM and then turned around to glare at his grandpa, "What do you want? I was having such an awesome dr-"_

_"There's someone for you at the door." His grandpa interrupted him. _

_"Huh? In the middle of the night?" Tyson got up grudgingly as he followed his grandpa out of the room. Any amount of sleep that was left just vanished from his eyes as he saw who was waiting for him. _

_A very shaken and scared Taichi was sitting in the living room; his little sister Hikari was sleeping in his lap, not aware of the tears rolling down her brother's cheeks, "Please can I stay here? I don't wanna go back." Taichi's voice shook as he tried to hold back his tears. _

_Tyson looked up at his grandpa who nodded and picked up Hikari and left the room. Tyson knelt down and rubbed Taichi's back, he tried his best to comfort him and once Taichi had finally stopped crying he asked him, "What happened?"_

_Even if he wanted to, Tyson was never able to forget the things Taichi told him that night. _

_The next morning, when his Grandpa had left to fill up on groceries so he could make a filling breakfast for the three kids, Tyson and Taichi sat playing with Hikari, trying to make her laugh. Tyson was sure that he had locked the door when Gramps had left. But still he heard the door creak open and a tall figure entered the dojo. Besides him Taichi froze, and Hikari just giggled and stood up to run towards the figure. She was too young to understand, she was just simply happy to see her mother. _

_Mrs. Yagami pulled Hikari into her arms, "I was so worried darling!" The overdone sweetness in her voice made Tyson sick. She then proceeded to smile at him and Taichi. A smile so fake that it scared Tyson. _

_He could feel Taichi shaking with fear next to him. He wanted to do something , anything for Taichi. He could feel the helplessness in his hands as Mrs. Yagami grabbed Taichi by his arm and dragged him with her as she started to leave. And Tyson just sat there. Unable to move. Unable to do anything. _

_Taichi turned around to look at Tyson for one last time. And the fear Tyson saw in his eyes was something he'll never forget. His state of helplessness as he just sat there and watched them leave, was something he'll never forget. _

_After that day, whether by choice or force, Taichi never talked to him again. _

-x-

"Why are you glaring at me?" Kai quirked an eyebrow, amused by his best friend's sudden change in behaviour.

"Cuz you're a dumbass." Charly replied and shifted her glare onto someone else.

Kai tried his best to hide his amusement because he knew it would just make her madder. He followed her line of sight and frowned, "Why are you glaring at Ketchum?"

"Cuz he's a dumbass too." She stated.

Just a few days left before school started and Ash was just trying to finish the homework. Well, more like copying Misty and Hilary's homework but that also needed effort so he was pretty proud of himself. It was Misty's day off so she sat alongside Hilary as they both helped him finish the work.

"Why is Charly glaring at you?" Misty asked him with a confused look on her face.

"It's because I'm a dumbass." Ash muttered as he concentrated on his work. Misty snickered and Hilary let a small smile grace her features as she continued reading her book without looking up.

"Tell me something new." Misty stuck her tongue out.

_"Ha ha." _

"No really, what is up with her?" Misty asked again, more curious now than confused.

Ash let out a frustrated sigh, "She found _the photo._"

"Ah, the dreaded photo." Hilary remarked as she turned a page, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Of course! _The_ photo!" Misty exclaimed.

"Don't be so loud. She'll hear us." Ash hissed at her.

"So what exactly happened?" Misty decided to keep her voice low this time.

Ash put down his pen and stared at her, "You're not gonna leave me alone till I answer your questions, are you?"

Misty shook her head, a huge grin on her face.

"Apparently she found the photo in Kai's room but when she asked him about it, he refused to tell her anything so she came to see me last night thinking that I'd spill the beans because according to her I'm gullible." Ash paused to breathe.

"That's cause you kinda are gullible." Misty muttered quietly.

"I am not!" Ash retorted.

"Did you tell her anything?" Hilary finally looked up from her book.

"No." Ash said.

"Why not?" Asked Hilary and Misty in unison.

"Because why should I ruin my perfectly happy night talking about Yamato's mommy issues or Kai's inability to deal with grief or Taichi's broken family or Tyson's abandonment issues." Ash glared at the two girls sitting in front of him. It was very hard for him to keep his voice down. He just hoped that Kai and Charly were sitting far enough and didn't hear his outburst.

All trace of happiness was gone from Misty's face as she glared back at Ash, "I like how you very conveniently left out your own daddy issues."

"I don't have daddy issues." Ash said through gritted teeth.

"Oh because it's completely normal to call your father by his first name. _Everybody_ does that." Misty shot back.

Hilary watched as Ash and Misty glared at each other, neither speaking a word. Everything was just going fine till he mentioned that photo, maybe Tyson was right, that photo is cursed she thought, "I don't think you two should fight over this…" Her suggestion was unheard as Ash grabbed his things from the table muttered a heated thank you for the help and just ran up the stairs. Hilary took a sideway glance at Misty, who looked ready to kill someone (see: Ash) and moved as far away from her as possible. Misty on the other hand, ignored Hilary's action and picked up her notes from the table, arranged them properly in her bag and got up to leave, "I'll see you later." She murmured and walked out of the café, slamming the door shut behind her.

Hilary started to gather her things, since there was no point of her staying there anymore. As she stood up, she found herself face to face with a grinning Charly.

"Hey, so I just witnessed the lover's quarrel that went down a few minutes back and I couldn't help but overhear the word 'photo' being used again and again." Hilary could tell that she was trying to be as civil as possible. They had never really talked before, for obvious reasons. She hung out with Kai and Hilary was Tyson's girlfriend, there was no reason for them to interact. And Hilary kind of preferred it that way but now thanks to the photo she was being made to converse with Charly. She felt bad for scolding Tyson for saying that the photo was cursed. It really was cursed.

"I was just leaving actually." Hilary told her in the most polite manner she could manage.

"That's okay I'll walk with you." Charly said happily.

"Um, what about your company?" Hilary looked at Kai, who hadn't moved from his position.

"He can go die for all I care." Charly said grumpily.

"Okay. Let's go then." Hilary let out a small nervous laugh as she thought to herself, this was going to be one long walk.

-x-

A/N: No new characters in this chapter so I don't I think I need to do a recap. Read and Review!


	5. Sick and Sweet

A/N: This chapter does not feature Ash that much, wanted to show some other perspectives as well. So yeah, read on.

**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned everything in this story. But sadly, I don't.

Song – Ano Hi Time Machine – Long Shot Party

_toki o koete mata itsuka_

_(__I will triumph over time, and someday again)  
>ano hi o hokoreru you ni<em>

_(__I want to be able to boast of that day long gone)  
>hidarimawari no tokei mo hitotsu motteiku yo<em>

_(__I will even carry a clock that runs backwards)  
>kirihirake sono te de<em>

_(Cut through, with those hands)_

Sick and Sweet

_"You'll still see him all the time right?" Ash asked Yamato, his big brown eyes filled with concern for his friend._

_"Not very often, they're moving to a different town you know..." Yamato's feeble attempt at a smile only made Ash feel worse. _

_"But he's your little brother! Won't you be sad without him?" Ash questioned him further without realizing the weight of his words. _

_"Yes. I will be." _

_"Then why don't you go with them?"_

_Yamato sighed and looked at Ash with a determined expression on his face, "I can't do that Ash." _

_"Why not?" Ash asked, his voice laced with confusion._

_"Because don't you think my father will feel lonely if all of us leave him? That's why I'm gonna stay here. With him. So he doesn't have to face everything by himself." And when Yamato smiled this time, it was a genuine smile that reached his eyes. _

_Ash grinned at him, "You know Yama-kun, you're a really nice person." _

_As Yamato walked back home, he took a little detour. He walked around the town aimlessly not wanting to get home early. He knew that the divorce was now official. His mother and Takeru had left the previous evening, after which his dad had been a mess. Yamato had been looking after him, their roles reversed. His dad told him in the afternoon that he was feeling fine and that Yamato should go and get some fresh air. Yamato knew his dad just wanted some time alone to deal with the pain so he left. He wasn't sure if his father was ready to face him, so he just wandered around the town, trying to pass the time. And he also knew that someone had been following him for a while. He thought that it was Ash trying to sneak up on him so he halted and turned around suddenly hoping to scare him. _

_The sight that awaited him wasn't quite what he was expecting. Oh he had scared the follower alright, only the person following him wasn't Ash. Yamato stared at the girl who had run into him when he had halted and was now crouching on the ground, her hands clutching her head. _

_He looked a little taken aback by the girl and his voice showed a hint of annoyance as he asked her, "What do you want?" _

_She looked up at him, her hands never leaving her head, and said nervously, "Anno, you look like exactly like him." _

_Yamato stared at her with a blank look on his face, completely dumbfounded by her statement, "Huh?" _

_She slowly lowered her hands, and stood up. She was still shorter than him even when she tried to stand on her toes. Her short chestnut brown hair was tied up in pigtails and her big caramel coloured eyes looked up at him with admiration. _

_Yamato felt uncomfortable under her stare, he moved back a few steps, trying to put some distance between them. _

_The girl fiddled with the hem of her pink dress as she finally spoke up again, "My mama said that a prince with shiny golden hair and pretty blue eyes will come for me. And you look exactly like him! Will you please play with me?" She looked up at him; her eyes filled with hope, a tinge of pink coloured her cheeks as she waited for him to answer._

_Yamato's face held a dark expression as he looked at her with cold eyes, "Don't follow me." _

-x-

"You look tired." Tyson greeted his girlfriend as she walked into the junkyard.

"You look hot." She winked at him.

Tyson grinned as he adjusted the metal crate full of used car parts in his arms as he carried it inside the working area, "Don't I always."

Hilary giggled as she followed him inside. Franky's Junkyard was the biggest repair shop in the town. From cars to electrical appliances, Franky could fix anything. But not only did he fix things, he used all the junk that was no longer usable to make amazing and completely out of the world inventions. The look of happiness on Tyson's face when he announced that Franky had agreed to take him as an apprentice was unforgettable. Tyson loved the junkyard. The sole reason being, there were no restrictions. Tyson could bomb the place if he wanted and Franky would just congratulate him and ask him for the design of the bomb.

It was his favourite place in town and if he wasn't at home sleeping or eating then he was definitely at the junkyard helping Franky with one of his top secret projects. Yes, Tyson wasn't allowed to talk about the projects they worked together on but lately he had dropped some hints and all Hilary could gather from those was that they were making lasers. Or Robots. Or both. Despite the genius that Franky was, Hilary always felt a little uncomfortable around him since he never wore pants. He walked around in his speedos, claiming pants were to restricting. She found it a little upsetting but Tyson always told her that he must be doing something right otherwise why would someone as hot as Robin-sensei marry him and she grudgingly agreed.

"I just had a long walk with Charly." She told him as he dumped the crate he was carrying on the ground next to a few others, a loud bang echoed through the work shed as it hit the floor and Hilary flinched at the noise.

"Andou?" Tyson asked her as he crouched down around the crates and started looking through them one by one, his voice held a tone of surprise.

"Yup."

He stopped his inspection of the crates and looked up at her with a frown on his face, "What did she want?"

Hilary sighed as she knelt down to wipe some grease off his cheek and said in quietly, "She wanted to talk about the photo."

Tyson snorted as he put his other cheek forward for her to clean, "Told you it was cursed."

"I'm exhausted. Take me home please?" She whispered as she put her head on his shoulder.

"As you wish, your highness." He chuckled as he stood up and helped her up. He took off his work gloves and tossed them on the crate. Hilary frowned at him for doing that and he just grinned, "Yo Franky! I'm done for the day. I'll see you tomorrow." He shouted.

Franky's head poked out of the small office situated in the farthest corner on their right, "Yo, SUPAR work today Tys. See ya tomorrow!" He shouted back and grinned at the two teens before diving back into his office.

"I think I saw Robin-sensei enter the office a while back, I wonder what they're doing." Tyson smirked as he led Hilary out of shed and towards his jeep. She blushed a little as she punched his arm. He laughed and grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

-x-

Charly returned to the café and scowled at the empty seat, she grabbed the first person that passed by her and glared at him, "Where's Kai?"

Natsume shot the older blonde an annoyed look, "He left a while back." He shook off her hold on him and walked off.

"That jerk. I told him to wait." She muttered to herself.

-x-

Yamato sat on the couch staring intensely at the coffee table in front of him. Well he wasn't staring at the table, but at the only two objects occupying the table. He picked up one of the photo frames and scowled at his Mother's smiling face. If she was so happy, why did she leave he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and decided that this one was definitely going into the trash pile and tossed it away. Then he looked at the other frame lying on the table and slowly reached out to pick it up. He held it in his hand, not wanting to look at the photo.

Ten years, he thought. For ten years this stupid childish fight had dragged on. He was sick of it. Sick of avoiding them in the hallways. Sick of looking the other way. But mostly he was sick of being alone. He never was good at making friends. He chuckled to himself and silently thanked his dad for telling him to clean his cupboard.

He finally looked at the photo and grinned.

He knew exactly what he was supposed to do with that photo.

-x-

A/N: Extra characters appearing : Mimi Tachikawa(Digmon), Natsume Hyuuga (Gakuen Alice), Franky (One Piece), Nico Robin (One Piece).

Read and Review! ^_^


	6. The Clock and the Class

A/N: Thanks to chibi-yachiru-chan and rand0m-DEATH for reviewing. There are a lot of different characters in this chapter so hope you guys like it.

**Disclaimer: **Yes, I don't own 99.9 % of this story. It's a sad life.

Song - Echo Again – SPLAY

_Tsugi-ni aeru toki wa kitto_

_(Next time when we meet, surely)_

_Kudakeru hodo boku-ra dakiatte_

_(We'll look like we're breaking apart)_

_"I don't want to lose anymore"_

_Keshite hanasa-nai_

_(Please don't vanish away)_

_"ECHO AGAIN"_

The Clock and the Class

_The club house emitted a kind of eerie silence. It felt empty even when it was occupied by three boys. The usual laughter and banter that filled the shack was long gone. The three boys sat avoiding each other's eye. _

"_So, I'm going to go live with my grandfather now." Kai announced, breaking the uneasy silence. _

"_But don't you hate him?" Tyson asked him._

_Kai looked away not wanting to answer his question. _

"_Look, I figured this might happen so I talked to my dad. We're kinda in a bad place right now, after the divorce and everything but he said he doesn't mind taking you in. I know the apartment is small and we're also a little low on money but I also know that your grandfather is a bad man and I don't want you to live with someone that you don't like. Dad said that he'll talk to the lawyers and then you can live with us." Yamato smiled at Kai. _

_Tyson grinned happily, "That's awesome! Don't you think so Kai?" He faced Kai, who hadn't said a word._

"_I don't want to live with you." Kai muttered as he stared off into the distance. _

_Tyson frowned at Kai as Yamato asked him in a shocked voice, "Why not?" _

_Kai turned to face Yamato, his face showing a bored expression, "Because you're poor." _

_Tyson growled as he took a step forward, "Take that back, Kai."_

_Kai's eyes showed no emotion as turned around to leave, "I'd rather live with the likes of my grandfather than with poor people like you." And with that he walked out of the shack not bothering to spare his friends a second glance._

_Tyson just stood there for a while, gaping at the spot that Kai was he balled his fists and started towards him but was stopped by Yamato's quiet voice._

"_Let him go." Yamato whispered. _

_Tyson could see the pain and hurt in his blue eyes. His blood boiled and he clenched his fists, "He's not gonna get away with that. Just because his parents died-"_

"_Exactly. His parents are dead Tyson. You and I can't even imagine the amount of pain he must be experiencing. It's normal for him to lash out on other people. I know he didn't mean it and if I don't mind, neither should you." Yamato attempted to smile. He tried his best to put on a brave face but Tyson could see the hurt in his eyes. And he just stood there, helpless once more as he watched Yamato hold back his tears. _

-x-

He turned the knob and let the cold water fall on his body. The water was like relief washing over him. He was relieved that school was back on. He was relieved that the soccer practice started again. He was relieved that he finally had an excuse to leave home early and go back late.

He ignored the goose bumps on his body caused by the icy cold water; he didn't want the water to stop. He just wanted to stand there and feel calm forever. But his peace was short lived.

"Captain, how long are you gonna be in there? We're gonna leave now." Daisuke's loud voice reached him inside the shower cubicle.

He finally opened his eyes and realized that the water made him loose track of time, "I'll be out in a minute, you guys go ahead." Taichi replied to his junior's query.

As he turned off the shower, he heard shuffling of the feet, laughter and then finally, the door close. The coast was clear, he thought to himself as he made his way out of the small cubicle and towards his locker. He groaned in frustration as he dressed himself, realizing that the fun part of the school day was over. He shuddered as he readied himself to face the dreadful education that awaited him once he was outside the locker room. Just as he closed his locker door shut, a note fell out. Taichi bent down to pick up the note with a confused look on his face. And his confusion only heightened as he opened the note to read its contents. He could recognize that handwriting anywhere.

-x-

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock._

Ash slouched in his seat as his eyes stayed fixed on the clock straight ahead of him. First day back was always the worst for him. Especially, when his daily routine for weeks had been lounging around the café and eating free sundaes. He scowled at the clock and cursed the person who had decided their class schedule. Physics was not the kind of subject the kids enjoyed at the end of the day when the only thing on their mind was to get free from the shackles of the classroom as soon as possible and run back home. Okay so maybe he was exaggerating his situation, but it wasn't the subject that was making Ash uncomfortable but the _class_ itself.

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock._

If Ash hated the person who decided their timetable, he _loathed_ the person who divided the class. All five of them in the same class, was _not_ a simple coincidence. Ash sneaked a glance at Charly. The blonde had had a smug look on her face all day long and Ash wondered if she somehow messed with the class list. Ash's eyes scanned the rest of the class and he was surprised to see a lot of unfamiliar faces. He reminded himself to pay attention during the roll call next time as he observed his new classmates. He recognized an annoyed looking Kurosaki, who often came to the café with his two younger sisters. Ash looked around trying to figure out why he looked so annoyed, and spotted the reason, or _reasons_ immediately.

Kurosaki Ichigo, who was known for his hot headedness was stuck sitting between a glaring duo who looked like they wanted to rip each other's throat apart. On his right, sat a spiky pink haired guy with a white scarf checked with black lines wrapped around his neck. On his left, sat a guy with deep blue hair, his shirt was completely unbuttoned and he was ready to pounce on the scarf guy. Ash could feel the annoyance radiating from Kurosaki, and if those two guys didn't hit each other first, Kurosaki might just. Ash felt a little relieved as he was sitting on the other end of the class and he would be completely safe if a fight broke out. His eyes travelled to the trio who was sitting in front of them. The guy with the straw hat was trying to snatch something from a girl with long curly orange hair and she was evading his attempts so easily as if it was something they did on a daily basis. Sitting between them was a guy with a pretty long nose. He was trying to pay attention but kept getting hit in the face by Straw Hat's hand as he reached out again and again for whatever the girl was holding in her hand.

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock._

His eyes moved along the class, taking in a lot of new faces along with the ones he knew so well, he saw Yamato sitting with his headphones on, Kai gazing out of the window, Tyson dozing off while Hilary diligently jotted down notes and Taichi with his head on the desk a completely exhausted look on his face. His eyes finally came to halt as they rested upon the fiery redhead who sat diagonally across him. Her one-sided ponytail dangled loosely as her turquoise eyes remained fixed on the teacher and she listened intently to what the teacher had to say. And then suddenly, she turned around and caught him staring at her.

Misty smirked as Ash hurriedly looked away. His face turned a light shade of crimson as he pretended to go through his non-existent notes and avoided her eyes. This was going to be a piece of cake, Misty thought to herself as she leaned towards him when the teacher wasn't looking, "Hey, Ash!" She whispered in a low voice.

He looked at her with his face still red from embarrassment, "What?" He replied quietly.

"I need to talk to you about something. Do you mind staying back after class?"

He nodded his head and she smiled at him and turned her attention back to the teacher as she smirked to herself.

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock._

"Tyson, wake up!" Hilary nudged him as hard she could.

He opened his eyes slowly and stifled the yawn, "What's the matter?" He asked her lazily.

"The class is almost over." She replied quietly.

"Well wake me up when it is over." He said as he readied himself to go back to sleep.

Hilary sighed with exasperation, "Wait, I need to talk to you."

Tyson turned his attention towards her with sleepy eyes, "What?"

"I have some work with the Student Council. It's nothing big just a five minute thing, do you mind waiting for me here?"

"Sure." He answered. If only Tyson was paying attention he would've caught the guilty look on his girlfriend's face immediately.

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock._

"So…" Charly's voice brought Kai's attention back to the class.

"So?" He asked her with a bored expression on his face.

"I need a ride home." She told him.

Kai just nodded and turned to continue his gazing but was interrupted by his best friend once again.

"_But…"_ Charly let the sentence hang till she had Kai's full attention.

"But what?" He asked her dryly.

"But I have some work with Hilary, so you'll have to wait for me." She told him.

"How long?" He questioned.

"Just five minutes." She replied.

"Fine, I'll just wait here." He said.

"You will wait right?" Charly asked him sarcastically.

Kai shot her an annoyed look, "I thought you went home."

"Whatever." Charly muttered and turned to face the front of the class.

_Tick tock._

_Tick tock_.

Ash sighed inwardly with great relief as the clock finally signalled the end of the class. The sound of desks and chairs moving and screeching against the floor encompassed the class, as the students started emptying their seats. The first one out was Straw Hat shouting "Food! Food!" happily, followed by a completely annoyed Kurosaki. Ash turned his attention towards Misty who got up from her seat, "Hey can you wait for a few minutes? I just got a text from May, she needs help with something." She told him.

"Sure." Ash just shrugged in response. She smiled gratefully at him, which made him blush and he looked away as she sped out of the class.

A few minutes passed and Ash was overtaken by a strange feeling. He looked around the class to see that it was almost empty, except for five (including himself) people still in their seats.

His eyes widened with horror as he realized what was happening.

_Slam._

_Click._

All five pair of eyes turned towards the door.

Taichi was the first one to react as he reached for the door knob and tried to open the door with no luck.

"You can try all you want but it's not gonna budge." Came Charly's muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"Charly, _what the hell?_" Kai shouted and Ash wondered if his glare was able to penetrate through the door.

"Oh I just thought that you dumbasses needed some alone time with each other. You know, to sort things out and become all lovey-dovey again." She replied and Ash could just imagine the smirk on her face.

And then complete silence took over as all the five people in the room avoided each other's eyes. For a few minutes nobody uttered a word, as they tried to grasp and make sense of the situation. And then finally, too tired of the silence, Ash let out a small groan.

"_Awkward."_

_-x-_

A/N: New Characters – Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach), Glaring Duo – Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail), Monkey D. Luffy, Usopp and Nami (One Piece).

Yes the next chapter is going to get a little emotional. I'll try to update as fast as I can! R&R!


	7. Lock and Load

**A/N: **Sorry for the two week long wait! Here it is.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 7 out of 8 characters appearing in this chapter. But I do own one! *happy sobbing*

Song - Fairy Tail ~Yakusoku no Hi~ - Chihiro Yonekura

_Bokura wa shitte iru kanashii namida o_

_(We all know about the sorrowful tears)_

_Dakara yuzurenai yuruganai_

_(So don't ever surrender, don't ever sway)_

_Yumemita ano hi ni sou tadori tsuku made_

_(That's right, until we arrive to the dream we saw that day)_

Lock and Load

"You were in on this, weren't you?" Taichi turned to glare at Yamato who just shrugged in response.

"Not really, I wanted to talk to you. I didn't know Charly was planning to lock us all up for her entertainment." The blonde muttered in a dry voice.

And once again, the classroom was filled with absolute silence as the five boys refused to acknowledge each other's presence. Ash sat cross-legged on the teacher's table and kept looking at the door every few minutes with a hopeful look on his face. Tyson hadn't moved from his seat and had decided that this was the perfect time to catch up on his sleep. His head was buried in his arms that were sprawled across the table and Ash wondered if he was just pretending to sleep. Taichi stood next to the door, his back leaning against the wall, with his hands in his pockets. Kai was pacing around the room with a solemn expression on his face. Probably thinking of various ways to kill Charly, Ash thought. Yamato sat right across from Ash on which was originally supposed to be Misty's seat.

Ash avoided the blonde's piercing blue eyes as he concentrated on thoroughly studying his hands. Yamato let out a loud sigh, "You know we could just talk it out like mature people."

Kai scoffed at Yamato's comment, "Three out of two people in this room don't even know what that word means."

Taichi scowled at Kai as Ash pretended to not listen to the conversation. Tyson still wasn't showing any interest in them. Maybe he really is sleeping, Ash thought as he glanced at him.

"On the contrary, I think you're the only one who doesn't understand the meaning of that word Kai."

Tyson's voice caught all of them by surprise. Taichi smirked at Kai who directed his death glare towards the supposedly asleep teen.

"Can we please not start a fight?" Yamato pleaded in a small voice, knowing very well that it will go unheard. But fortunately for him, Kai chose to ignore Tyson's comment and continued with his pacing.

-x-

"Tyson's gonna hate me for this." Hilary whined for the hundredth time.

Misty sent her a comforting look as Charly just rolled her eyes. The three girls sat in the cafeteria of their school, enjoying some chocolate pudding. A small silver key lay in the middle of the table.

"Why does your life always has to revolve around him?" Charly questioned the brunette annoyed by her incessant whining.

"Because I love him." Hilary answered.

"Bullshit! That doesn't mean you have to give up everything for him! I heard you got into that elite girls school on the other side of town with an excellent scholarship. Why didn't you go?" Frustration was evident in Charly's voice as she grilled Hilary. Charly just didn't understand how Hilary could just give away all the good stuff in life for a guy.

"Because then Tyson would've been lonely."

"That is ridiculous. What has Tyson done for you anyways?" Charly regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. Misty sent her a warning look, telling her that she had said too much.

Hilary simply got up from the table and left without saying a word.

-x-

"_Hil, you're hurt again." Tyson scowled at Hilary as he inspected the bruise on her arm and forehead._

_Hilary let out a small nervous laugh, "I'm just really clumsy." She tried to smile._

_Tyson looked her straight in the eyes, his brown eyes burning with intensity, "Hil, tell me the truth. Does he hit you?"_

-x-

Thirty minutes had passed since they had been locked up in the classroom and Yamato was getting impatient. He should've known he was dealing with the town's most stubborn people. They'd rather send a night locked in school than talk to each other. He glanced at Taichi, who actually looked kind of relieved of their situation while Ash on the other hand, looked completely bored. Kai had stopped his pacing and was sitting at the back of the class. Tyson hadn't moved an inch from his position. Yamato had always been amazed by his ability to fall asleep in the weirdest situations.

"I don't even care if you guys start a fight or hit each other. Just say something. Just do something." Yamato murmured, pretty sure that they didn't hear him.

But suddenly Tyson's head shot up, "You really mean that?"

Yamato was a little taken aback by Tyson's sudden interest in the situation, he just shrugged, "Sure I do."

Tyson smirked as he got up from his seat, "I've been waiting for a long time for you to say that, Yama."

Yamato looked utterly confused as Tyson walked over to where Kai was sitting and before Kai could react, Tyson punched him with all he had. Ash gasped in surprise and Taichi backed away a little. The impact of the punch pushed Kai off the chair and he fell to the ground, a small streak of blood quickly flowed down his nose. He was ready to pounce back at Tyson when the door opened and Charly peeked in.

"I heard some noise…" She trailed off as she saw Kai lying on the floor with blood on his face and Tyson standing above him, blowing on his fist.

"What the hell!" She quickly ran towards Kai and knelt down to help him up and glared at Tyson.

Ash looked at Tyson and shuddered with fear, he had his infamous cold expression on his face. Tyson was one of those people who were always smiling or grinning no matter what and to see that look on his face scared Ash quite a bit.

"I know you had problems. I know that you needed time to deal with your parent's death. I know that you were sad and hurt and confused. But you weren't the _only_ one with problems Kai. _We_ all were going through tough times and despite that we _tried_ to be there for you, _you_ were the one who pushed _us_ away. You were the one who refused to take our help. And what makes you think you had the right to call Yamato's dad poor when he offered you his home? I don't hate you. I'm not mad at you. I'm just _ashamed_ by the fact that even after ten years you still don't have the _decency_ to apologise to Yamato." Tyson's cut through all of them. And without looking back at any of them, Tyson walked out of the classroom.

Ash got off from the table and looked at Kai. He hadn't moved from his position on the floor, his face held no emotion at all. Charly, who had helped him into a sitting position held a look of disbelief on her face, "You asshole." She said. Kai looked at her with a guilty look on his face but before he could say anything, Charly ran out of the classroom.

Taichi let out a small sigh, "Ash, come on. We're not needed here."

Ash looked at Yamato and then Kai. He nodded and exited the classroom and watched as Taichi shut the door behind him.

"They'll be okay right?" Ash looked up at Taichi with concern.

Taichi smiled at him, "They'll be just fine." A grin broke out on his face as he put his arm around Ash's shoulder and dragged him along, "Come on Ketchum, you owe me a free burger."

-x-

**A/N:** Okay so I'm not really happy with this, please don't hate me! Reviews are always appreciated.


	8. Meetings and Misunderstandings

A/N: So sorry for the wait! Here it is. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my eldest sis who helped me come up with the name of the chapter and **chibi-yachiru-chan** for her unbelievably encouraging reviews.

**Disclaimer:** I seriously own nothing.

Song – Connect by ClariS

_yorokobi mo kanashimi mo wakeaeba tsuyomaru omoi _

_(Our feelings will be stronger by sharing our joy and sorrow)_

_kono koe ga todoku no nara _

_(If my voice can reach you)_

_kitto kiseki ha okoseru darou_

_(__I'm sure a miracle will happen)_

Meetings and Misunderstandings

The train station was fairly empty, just as the brunette sitting on the bench had expected. She was just sitting at the platform, watching various trains arrive and then leave. It had been more than an hour since she had left school in a hurry and up until a few minutes ago, she had been left alone by the people passing by. She finally averted her eyes from the tracks laid out in front of her as she looked at the person who sat next to her. She quickly shifted her gaze back to the tracks, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Taichi Yagami had made it pretty clear from the very first day he met Hilary Tachibana that he absolutely hated her. And now here he was sitting next to her, yawning slightly as he checked his watch. Hilary wished for the earth to open up and swallow her. Of all the people she could have run into, it had to be him. Neither of the two teens felt inclined to talk to each other and minutes turned into years as the ruby eyed brunette squirmed in her seat, highly uncomfortable with the current situation. Just as she was contemplating leaving, he sighed loudly and turned to face her.

"You should go home."

"I..." Hilary fidgeted with the hem of her skirt as she avoided his gaze.

She looked up abruptly, a look of surprise and concern on her face, "Is he alright?"

"Well he did punch Kai in the face, so I'm guessing he's more than just alright." Taichi replied casually.

"He did _what?!"_

Taichi rolled his eyes at her reaction and stifled another yawn, "The point is you should go home. He might be looking for you."

The girl gave a slight nod and before she could stop herself the question flew out of her mouth, "What are you doing here?"

The bushy haired teen raised an eyebrow, not happy with her question but he answered her anyways, "Picking up my sister." And he turned away from her, marking the end of their conversation.

Hilary bowed slightly as she muttered a thank you and got up to leave, he blatantly ignored her as he yawned yet again and refused to acknowledge her. She sighed inwardly with relief. That is how their interactions were supposed to go, Hilary trying her best to be polite and Taichi refuting her very existence. That fraction of a civil conversation that they just shared was their first actual conversation without Tyson standing in the middle as the mediator. And to Hilary's surprise, it didn't end up in scathing insults and painful tears. She spared him one last glance before exiting the platform and found him looking at her with saddened eyes revealing the reason why he hated her so much.

-x-

Charly hated waiting for people. She hated sitting by herself at the table trying to look interested in the menu despite having memorized each and every item on there. That's exactly why hanging out with Kai worked out so well for her, he always reached ten minutes before the designated time and she never had to wait. The blonde shook her head rigorously trying desperately to remove any thoughts focusing on the lying, scheming, cheat of a boyfr-, _best friend_. Charly huffed as she checked her watch again, her so called friend was way beyond fashionably late and as every second passed the green eyed girl devised new ways to kill the only two good friends she had.

"Oh gosh, Charly-chan I'm _so_ sorry! So our theatre practice took longer than I expected, though you _totally_ have to come and watch the show next weekend since I'm the lead and you can always bring Kai-chan along. And then this girl in our class is moving to another town so we had a surprise party and everyone was crying and they all looked so sad that I couldn't just leave them like that!" Mimi Tachikawa finally paused to take a breath and sank down on the chair opposite from her friend, who just glared at her not bothering to respond to her excuses, "You scowled when I said Kai-chan, did you guys have a fight or something? Is that what this is about? Are you never gonna talk to him again?" Mimi tucked a few loose strands of her coffee coloured hair behind her ear as she stared wide eyed at the blonde sitting across from her.

Charly tried her best to resist the big caramel coloured orbs by putting up her best glare, but she didn't last even a few seconds as her friend's curious gaze was too intimidating for her to counter. She sighed as she tried to answer Mimi's endless list of questions, "Well I did kind of have a sort of fight with Kai but this isn't about him." Charly shook her head again, as she herself couldn't understand what she had just said. She looked at Mimi hoping that the brunette would understand and indeed found her nodding furiously as if she really did understood everything.

"Can I order something first? I'm starving." Mimi said not waiting for Charly's reply as she motioned the waiter over.

Charly waited patiently as Mimi placed her order and flirted a little with the waiter. Both the girls sat in silence as they waited for the food to arrive. Charly was glad to have Mimi as a friend. Even though the hyper and annoyingly happy brunette attended the Shihōin Academy for Girls and spent most of her time doing club activities and actively volunteering for every damn little event, she always showed up whenever and wherever Charly asked her to. Even if she was half an hour late. But the reason that made Charly respect Mimi so much was because that girl always knew everything about everyone. Her happy and comforting nature made people come to her whenever they needed to talk, vent out their frustrations or (the best) confess their secrets. And although she usually refused to disclose personal information that she had gathered (like when Charly went to her with the photo and Mimi absolutely refused to tell her anything she already didn't know), just sometimes she would accidently blurt out stuff. You just had to push the right buttons and you'd have all the right information.

As the food finally arrived and Mimi dug in, Charly looked at her with most serious expression she could muster and said, "Tell me everything you know about Hilary Tachibana."

-x-

A small sigh escaped her lips as the raven haired continued to glare in her direction. She had apologised more than a hundred times in the past hour and he was still not ready to listen to her.

"What do you want me to say?" Misty hissed, her temper flaring.

Ash just shrugged in response.

It was the red head's turn to glare, "Look, I just wanted to help you okay?"

Ash scoffed.

"Oh please. I saw how happy you looked when you left with Taichi-kun."

"That's not the point." He muttered, flushing slightly.

"Oh really? Then please do tell me what exactly the point is?" She said in a slightly loud voice (or according to Ash, yelled).

"The point is you tricked me. You _deceived _me." Ash pointed at her as if she had just betrayed the whole freaking world.

"But it _helped_." She said through gritted teeth.

"But that's not what best friends do."

"So maybe I am not your best friend."

Misty bit her lip as Ash simply stared at her. The two teens sat in silence, avoiding each other's gaze not knowing what to say. Misty opened her mouth several times, but nothing came down. She cursed herself mentally. Now she had done it. She sneaked a peek at Ash and paled. He looked genuinely hurt. She wished she could take back what she had said. She wished he'd understand that she hadn't meant it one bit. It was just a spur of the moment response. But before she could gather up the courage to actually speak again, Ash got up to leave.

"Yeah. Maybe you're not."

-x-

A/N: It's a little short but the next chapter will make up for it. So the only new character appearing was Mimi Tachikawa from Digimon. And Shihoin Academy, well for anybody who didn't get that – Yoruichi Shihōin (Bleach). So read and review please!


	9. Concerns and Confrontations

A/N: this chapter focuses more around the girls so I hope you don't mind.

**Disclaimer: **Nope, don't own much.

Song – Hitohira No Hanabira - Stereopony

_Yarinaoseru no nara _

_(If only we could start over)_

_Mou ichido _

_(Just once more)_

_Dakishimetai_

_(I want to embrace you closely)_

_HITOHIRA no HANABIRA ga yureteiru_

_(A single piece of flower petal)_

_boku no tonari de ima_

_(is swaying by my side right now)_

Concerns and Confrontations

The elephant in the room could have been easily avoided if Straw Hat wouldn't have entered the classroom and pointed at Kai's bruised nose (it had taken a disgusting purple and red shade which made Ash want to puke) and shouted, "That looks really bad. You must be weak. Ha ha!" The whole class fell silent. All eyes turned towards Kai, expecting him to get up and punch the shit out of Straw Hat. But surprisingly Kai ignored him. Ash was a little taken aback by the calm look on his face. Does this mean that Kai accepted that he deserved the punch? Ash sneaked a glance at Yamato who looked completely unaffected by the spectacle with his earphones plugged in. He looked at Kai again who was calmly reading a book and then back at Yamato who was humming as he scribbled in his notebook. Something had definitely happened.

But before Ash could even think about what happened between them, the pink haired guy with the muffler spoke up, "Just because he's hurt doesn't mean he's weak." The whole class had gone back to their own world but the pink haired teen's voice caught their attention and all eyes turned towards Straw Hat.

Straw Hat narrowed his eyes at the boy with the muffler, "What do you know? You have pink hair."

"What's wrong with that?!"

"And a weird muffler."

"You're one to talk! What's with the century old hat?"

"Don't insult the hat!"

"Don't insult the muffler!"

Both of them had left their seats and their noses were touching as they glared at each other, their fists clenched at their sides. The whole class watched in amusement and a blonde (who had whiskers on his face) sitting next to Taichi started shouting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"If you wanna fight go do it outside. I'll kill you both if you annoy me." Kurosaki who was sitting in front of the blonde glared at them.

The blonde (Ash really needed to learn their names) pouted as he poked Kurosaki (bad judgement on his side) in the back, "Don't be such a party pooper."

Kurosaki glared around to glare at him, "Just try doing that one more time, kid."

The blonde returned the glare, "Who're you calling a kid? We're in the same class!"

"I couldn't think of anything else." Kurosaki shrugged casually.

"And 'kid' was all you could come up with. So lame." The blonde snickered at him.

Ash didn't know whether to keep his eyes on the weird accessories pair or the bright haired duo. It looked like half the school would reduce into rubble if either of the two groups started fighting. Whoever had thought to put all the violent and short tempered kids in one class seriously needed some time off his duty.

"Luffy, could you please not fight in my classroom?"

Robin-sensei's calm and serene voice echoed through the classroom as everyone settled into their seats. Luffy gave a slight nod and grinned at the teacher and went back to his seat. The pink-haired teen grudgingly took his seat and Kurosaki and the whiskered blonde stopped glaring at each other. Yamato took out his earphones, Tyson woke up, Taichi sat up straight, Kai stopped reading his book and Ash turned his attention towards the front of the class. Every male student in the class tried their best to look attentive and well behaved as their eyes followed the history teacher's every move. Charly rolled her eyes. It was ridiculous, the effect Robin-sensei had on the class. They all would hang onto her each and every word and gape at her openly. Fine, Charly admitted that their teacher was hot but the guys were just ridiculous. This was probably the only class on which the whole class paid attention, even if the male population was paying attention to ahem some other things rather than what was being taught. Even Charly whose attention span was less than a toddlers when it came to school, actually listened in class because the teacher's voice and the way she talked about the wars and the legends was so mesmerising that it was impossible to tear your eyes away from her.

As the class went on, Charly occasionally sneaked glances at Hilary. The brunette was listening intently, nodding along and taking notes. Mimi's words were imprinted in her head. But somehow Charly couldn't bring herself to believe it. She looked at Hilary again, her face showed no sign of experiencing something so disgusting. Charly had to hear it from Hilary's mouth. The blonde decided that she would confront the girl after school.

-x-

"_Sora-chan!_ I did something really terrible!"

The auburn haired girl rolled her eyes and looked up at her best friend, "Good Morning to you too, Mimi." She muttered.

"_But Sora-chan!_ I really did something really _really _terrible!" Mimi cried out again, grabbing the attention of half their class. And within a few seconds the two best friends were surrounded by a bunch of girls with concerned looks on their faces.

"Mimi-chan, are you alright?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Can we help?"

Sora Takenouchi hated studying in an all-girls school for just one reason. Everyone was always happy to help. Couldn't they just leave a person alone for once, she thought bitterly as she watched a few girls trying to comfort a frantic Mimi. Thankfully, Mimi brushed most of them off.

"Mimi-chan, I'm sure it's no big deal." Lucy looked up from her phone and smiled at her classmate reassuringly.

Mimi nodded slightly and turned her attention towards Sora, "Are you listening?"

Sora nodded uninterestedly.

"Okay so I might have told someone something about another someone accidently. And the first someone might confront the other someone about it but the other someone doesn't like it when people talk to her about that something."

Sora stared at the brunette with a dumbfounded look on her face, "Huh?"

"You didn't understand that?" Mimi asked her, looking confused.

"I was supposed to?" Sora fired back.

"Yes. I put it pretty simply didn't I?" Mimi narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"Nope. Not really." Sora shot her an annoyed look.

And before the two girls broke into their usual quarrelling, Lucy interfered, "Okay. How about you just tell us who you're talking about, Mimi-chan. We might be able to help you properly if we knew."

Mimi contemplated over this for a while and Lucy went back to texting.

"Who're you talking to?" Sora pointed towards her phone and asked.

Lucy blushed slightly, "No one."

Sora smirked, "Oh is it Natsu-kun?"

Lucy's blush deepened, "Of course not! He's in school right now." She muttered quietly.

"And you're not?" Sora laughed loudly, "The whole world knows you're dating you know."

"We're not! We're just _really_ good friends!" Lucy retorted.

"Yeah, really good _friends_ who make out at the beach." Sora snickered.

"You saw that?!"

"Oh honey, everyone saw that."

The three girls turned around to see their homeroom teacher looking bored as she filed her nails.

"Matsumoto-sensei! You were there too?" Lucy shrieked.

Their teacher smirked a little, "You sure had an interesting summer, Miss Heartfilia."

The chocolate eyed blonde groaned as she sank into her seat, burying her red in her palms. Some girls laughed while others just sent the embarrassed girl sympathetic looks.

Mimi was unfazed by all this as she finally made up her mind, "Sora-chan."

Sora stopped laughing as she faced Mimi. The brunette had a serious and guilty look on her face, something that didn't happen very often. The auburn haired girl mirrored her expression and asked her, "What?"

"I told Charly-chan about Tachibana-san's father."

-x-

_14 year old Sora glared at the brunette standing in front of her, "You're kidding me right, Hilary? This school is like the best!" _

"_But I can't go. I only applied because you forced me to. I made it pretty clear before that I won't go there." Hilary sighed, tired of the argument. _

"_But-"Sora began to protest but was cut off._

"_I cannot. That school is expensive, even with the scholarship. I can't ask them to pay that much for someone who's not even their child."_

"_I'm sure they won't mind." Sora muttered quietly._

_Hilary took a few deep breaths trying to keep her temper in check. She really didn't want to start an argument right now, "It's not about whether they mind or not, Sora. I can't ask them to this. They already put up a roof over my head, I can't ask for anything more."_

"_Fine. Go to that stupid public high school with your stupid boyfriend. Don't blame me when I don't have time for you because I actually want to do something with my life and not make it revolve around a stubborn asshole." _

-x-

It had been two years since Sora had last talked to Hilary and she wasn't really proud of how their last meeting had went. But right now she didn't have to time to think about all of that. She was the one who told Mimi about Hilary's father. She hadn't meant to, it had just slipped out in one of those many sleepovers they had together. Hilary was one of the smartest people in town. If Andou talked to Hilary about it, Hilary would know that Sora was the one who told Mimi. Sora didn't want their broken friendship to get any worse than it already was. And that's why the minute their school ended, Sora skipped her tennis practice, hired a cab as she tried Andou's cell one more time. It was still switched off. Sora mentally made a note to drill the reason why people keep cell phones into the snarky blonde's head when she met her.

-x-

Charly couldn't believe her luck. She actually got hold of Hilary without Tyson. It was a miracle really.

"Can I just talk to you for like a minute?"

Hilary looked up from her book and stared at the blonde. She felt a little uneasy under Charly's hopeful gaze, "I'm not sure…"

"Oh come on! What are you doing right now anyways?" Charly whined.

"Waiting for Tyson."

Charly had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the brunette's reply, "Okay then that means you have time right? I just want to ask you some stuff."

Hilary raised an eyebrow, "Stuff?"

"Oh god, I promise I'm not planning to lock up your boyfriend with his arch enemies again." Charly said sarcastically.

Hilary couldn't help but grin, "That's a relief."

"Okay, so um I'm not sure how I should begin…" Charly was glad that Hilary was in a good mood but she was unsure how exactly she should precede with such a touchy topic. Mimi had told her to let it go and that Takenouchi would kill her if she found out. But then again Charly had never been a big fan of Takenouchi and she just_ needed _to know, "Okay so I'm just gonna come right out with it." The blonde took a deep breath as Hilary tilted her head in confusion.

"Did your dad really go to jail for Child Abuse? He used to hit you?"

Charly hadn't realized how loud her voice had been until she heard her voice echo throughout the classroom. She bit her lip as she realized that the deed was already done and there was no taking it back. The class had fallen silent with an occasional murmur here and there. They were all looking at Hilary. And it was all Charly's fault.

Hilary just sat there, Charly's words still fresh in her mind, her ruby eyes brimming with tears. For a moment she just sat there, with everybody's eyes on her, waiting for her to answer. She wanted to leave. She wanted to get out but she couldn't feel her legs. Suddenly, every little invisible wound on her body started to ache. She tried to block the pain out. She tried to block the image of his drunken face from invading her mind but her brain wouldn't listen. Her vision blurred and she could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks. But finally, finally she felt the strength come back to her legs. She got up and left the classroom as fast as her legs would take her. She needed to find Tyson.

Charly tried to call out to her but she couldn't find her voice. Which was an unusual and new feeling for her since it had never happened to her before. And she was very sure that she didn't like it. Just when she was about to admit defeat and think up of an apology plan, a very harsh and loud voice grabbed her attention.

"_Are you fucking out of your mind?"_

The blonde turned around to face a very angry Ash Ketchum. Charly had never seen Ash so angry before. His deep brown eyes burned with anger as he glared at her. She backed up a few steps, a little scared by the raven-haired teen, "Look, I just wanted to know-"

"Oh well that explains it. You humiliated her in front of everyone and made her relive some of her worst memories _just because you wanted to know._"

-x-

Sora rushed through the corridors looking for Charly but ran into Tyson instead.

"Have you seen Charly?"

"Have you seen Hilary?"

Tyson scowled at the mention of the blonde's name and Sora bit her lip. His expression told her everything she needed to know. She was too late.

"So you're the one who let it slip huh?" His voice was cold and his face was blank. Sora had known him for a long while and she knew what that look meant. He was just trying to control his anger and not hit her.

"I didn't mean to."

She could tell that her reply had only made things worse. She looked down at her feet ashamed of what she had done. She was so sure that he would shout at her or worse, hit her that she was surprised when she heard him sigh. She looked up at him to see him smiling sadly.

"Let me know if you run into her." He muttered and stepped around her to leave. He was halfway across the hall when he suddenly called out to her, "Oh and Charly is in the second room to the right on the first floor. I believe you and I both have some unfinished business with her."

Sora grinned at his retreating figure as she shouted, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

-x-

A/N: Any new characters: Sora Takenouchi (Digimon), Blonde guy with whiskers- Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto), Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail), Rangiku Matsumoto (Bleach).

So the next chapter will surely focus more on the guys. Read and Review please!


	10. Everlasting Endings

**A/N:** So after a really long wait, I present to you the longest and last chapter of Animania. Thank you everyone for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing. I'm finally ending my first multi-chapter story and I feel so relieved. One advice, while reading the chapter, I highly suggest that you listen to the cover of Secret base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ by Scandal.

**Disclaimer:** For the last time, I don't own much.

_kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume_

_(You and the end of summer and the dreams of the future)_

_ookina kibou wasurenai _

_(And our big hope, I won't forget them.)_

_juunengo no hachigatsu mata deaeru no o shinjite_

_(I believe that we will meet in August 10 years later.)_

_saikou no omoide o..._

_(The best memories...)_

_deai wa futto shita shunkan kaerimichi no kousaten de_

_(Our meeting was made in a moment at the intersection walking home.)_

_koe o kakete kureta ne "issho ni kaerou"_

_(You called out to me, didn't you? "Let's go home together.")_

_boku wa terekusa sou ni kaban de kao o kakushi nagara_

_(While I embarrassedly hid my face with my bag,)_

_hontou wa totemo totemo ureshikatta yo_

_(In truth, I was very, very happy.)_

Everlasting Endings

"He yelled at her? The pipsqueak yelled at her? And wait, Sora actually slapped her? And I missed all of it? Damn!"

"I don't think I've ever seen the pipsqueak get so angry before."

"I don't think I've ever seen Charly look so guilty before."

"And that Sora chick was so hot. I can't believe I've never seen her around town before."

"I'd really appreciate it if you guys stopped calling me pipsqueak when I'm sitting right in front of you and when I'm the one who's providing the food."

The Closed sign hung from the handle of the door of Delia's Café and yet the café was lit up, a few chairs scattered around a table which was covered with the left over's from the Café's menu.

"Have I told you how much I love you, Ash?"

Ash scoffed at the bushy haired teen grinned wolfishly in response as he snagged the last piece of the apple pie.

"Sora slapped her? For real? Hey I was planning to eat that."

"Yes Tys. Sora slapped Charly. Ash got angry for the first time. And you missed it all." Yamato said dryly, his face crunched in disgust as Taichi shoved the huge chunk of pie in his mouth before Tyson could snatch it from him, "Have you ever heard of sharing?" The blonde muttered in annoyance.

"Was that a rhetorical question?" Taichi narrowed his eyes.

"Hey you know what rhetorical means. I'm so proud of you." Kai smirked at him.

"Ha ha, Kai. Did I mention how ugly you look with that purple bruise covering your face? Very ugly. So ugly that the word ugly thinks you're ugly."

"And I still manage to look better than you." Kai shot back.

Ash furrowed his brows in confusion, "Can words think?"

Yamato rolled his eyes and Tyson pulled Kai's cheeks, "I think I did a pretty good job." Said the blue haired teen as he admired his handiwork.

Kai pushed him away, knocking off the trademark red and blue baseball cap off his head, "I'm gonna get you back for this, just you wait Granger."

Tyson snorted, "You can try."

"Hn." Came Kai's standard reply.

"But how can the word ugly think that Kai is ugly?"

The four heads turned towards the raven haired teen who sat with his arms folded across his chest, his head tilted in confusion and his eyes holding an intense emotion as he tried to figure out Taichi's insult.

Ash jumped up in surprise as the four boys sitting around him suddenly erupted in wild laughter. He flushed slightly as he realized his own mistake and smiled sheepishly at the scene in front of him.

"Oh god pipsqueak you're adorable!"

"No, I really do love you Ash."

"I really missed your stupidity."

"You're one to talk about stupidity."

"Why don't you keep your opinions to yourself _blondie_."

"What the fuck did you just call me?"

And the fighting, laughing, eating and throwing food and a tad bit of hitting continued till all the five boys finally fell asleep right in between the mess they had made. But the question here is how did the boys end up together?

Well, after the incident at the school, Ash wasn't in the best of the moods. He stomped around the school, knocking over tables and dustbins, glaring at anyone who dared to stop him. A very concerned Taichi decided to walk home with to ensure that his friend didn't jump in front of a car or kick a helpless puppy. The chances of the latter happening were very low since the bushy haired teen knew that if Ash was confronted by a helpless puppy he'd probably adopt it. But the chances of the former happening were very high mostly because Ash was walking with his eyes on his feet. The walk to the café was an excruciating one for Taichi as his futile attempts at a conversation were very angrily shot down by Ash. As the café came in sight, Taichi did a happy dance inwardly and was just about to leave when Mrs Ketchum called out to him, asking if he was hungry. And of course, he was hungry.

It was a tough decision for the Captain of the Soccer Team as accepting free food meant having to spend more time listening to the angry mutterings of Ash. But in the end he decided that a rare angry Ash was nothing compared to good free food and hence he ended up spending the evening with Ash. Not alone though. No, after fifteen minutes into lunch, he sent an SOS to Yamato who showed up in a hurry, concerned for his non-friend's well-being only to find him happily stuffing his face. But nevertheless, the musician decided to stay after noticing that his actual friend, Ash was still feeling sour. An hour or so passed and they were joined by Kai who had just dropped by to get some dinner packed but was forced to sit and make small talk with Ash on Yamato's request and again about half an hour later, Tyson showed wanting to thank Ash for blowing up on Charly.

After a full ten minutes of unbelievably awkward silence between the boys, Ash finally let out a small smile and a collective sigh of relief was heard from the other four. After which Taichi went on to demonstrate the slap to Tyson, who had unfortunately missed it and thus the curse of the awkward silence was finally broken and almost everything was back to normal.

-x-

_aa hanabi ga yozora kirei ni saite chotto setsunaku _

_(Ah, the way the fireworks beautifully bloom in the sky is a bit lonely.)_

_aa kaze ga jikan to tomo ni nagareru_

_(Ah, the wind flows along with time.)_

_ureshiku tte tanoshiku tte bouken mo iroiro shita ne_

_(So happy, having so much fun, we had so many adventures)_

_futari no himitsu no kichi no naka_

_(Inside the secret base that belonged to the two of us.)_

-x-

It was a fine Saturday morning but the dojo was unusually quiet. No Grandson running from the wrath of his Grandfather's bamboo sword because he overslept. No furniture breaking. No food burning. No sharp objects flying around. No brunette shouting that they were getting late for school. No blue haired teen shouting back that he didn't fucking care about school.

Just silence.

It wasn't the bad kind of silence but the kind that is usually welcomed in a very noisy household. It was the kind of silence that calmed a person's mind. And serenity was something that the current occupant of the dojo desperately needed. She moved her fingertips over the soft, green grass and closed her eyes. Lying down in the lawn in this pleasant weather had been a good idea. She lay flat on her back, her face positioned towards the clear blue sky. It was not often that she got time for herself, not that she minded but today was an exception. Today she was happy to be by herself, lying down on the grass and just be there.

Charly had somehow ended up reminding her of the bitter childhood Hilary had somehow managed to survive. At that time, it had been a challenge to her younger self, kind of like a game. How quickly can you forget his face, how quickly can you forget the pain, how quickly can you block the memories. It had been a game to her and she was proud of the fact that she made a quick recovery. Her shrink had been very impressed by her efforts and constantly remarked that she was a very strong girl.

Her younger self would've definitely agreed with that, but after yesterday, Hilary didn't believe herself to be strong at all. It took one question to break her. A few words from a stranger's mouth and it all came rushing back. She had sheltered herself, living a life where those ghastly events had never occurred and she had a home, a family. She had locked away the truth in some far away land in her mind, hoping to never visit it again. But it hadn't been so far away after all. It had always been there, lingering on the surface waiting for something to trigger it so that the memories could come rushing back to her. And Charly had done it. Unintentionally of course, the brunette understood that and could not bring herself to be blame or be mad at the blonde. Because really it was all her fault as she was the one who let her past consume her in an instant. She was the one who had obviously never been strong enough to recover from an incident like that. She had just been faking it and Charly had just simply exposed her lie.

She opened her eyes for a few moments but closed them again as she felt her vision blur. She blinked a few times, trying to hold back the tears that had been endlessly flowing since yesterday. She kept her eyes shut and decided to drift off for a while because her position on the ground was extremely comfortable and as long as she was asleep, she wouldn't have to think about anything.

The unexpected ringing of the doorbell jolted her awake and she jumped up into a sitting position. As the initial shock of the sound echoing through the home wore off, Hilary got up and dragged her feet across the dojo to the front door, cursing the visitor for ruining her amazingly comfortable nap. She supposed it was Grandpa already done with his morning stroll around the city and put on a small smile as she neared the door. The bell rang again, a little more impatiently which made her smile falter a bit and made her wonder if Tyson had decided to skip working at the junkyard for the day. Her queries were answered as soon as she slid open the door and was met by the one person she did not expect to see at all.

"Taichi." Her smile completely vanished as she stared at him with a look of surprise etched on her face.

"Yo." He smiled slightly.

Her reply was quick and monotonous, "Tyson's not home, he's at the-"

"Junkyard." He finished for her, the small smile never leaving his face, "I know. I just came from there."

She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and looked down to admire her feet, "Well can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, I actually came here to talk to _you._"

She looked up at him with utter disbelief, "Me?" She confirmed.

He nodded.

"Uh, okay. Come on in."

A thousand questions raced through her mind as she stepped aside to let him enter. She motioned for him to follow her and led him towards the lawn. She sat down on one side, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. He sat a few feet away from her, crossing his legs and leaning on his palms for support. He looked up at sky and then at her and grinned slightly, "So how obvious is the fact that I hate you?"

Hilary couldn't help but chuckle a little as she replied dryly, "Gee, I almost couldn't tell."

His grin remained intact as he ran a hand through his wild brown hair, "I'm just here to clear some things up…"

She remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath and started, "I don't know if my explanation would suffice but I'll try my best." He looked at her, his deep brown eyes shining with sincerity and she gave a slight nod to indicate that she understood.

"Right. So where do I begin." He remained silent for a while as he pondered things over and she waited patiently for him to straighten things out in his mind.

"You could say I come from what they call a broken home."

_A broken home. _

Hilary looked down at the green grass, his words lingering in her mind. Had her home been broken? She scoffed mentally at that thought. It had _never_ been a home, she corrected herself.

"It sucks you know? When you see your family fall apart right before your eyes and you can't do anything to save it because you're not strong enough or important enough. Most kids at that age were excited about holidays. I dreaded the summers. It only meant spending more time at home, watching my mom and dad shout at each other. And let me tell you, that is not a pretty sight."

She listened patiently and silently, giving him time to get the words out.

"When I was with the guys, it was like I was in a different world altogether. I didn't have to worry about the drinking, the shouting, and the fighting. I didn't have to worry about explaining it all to my three year old sister. I could just forget all about it and enjoy. I think that was a little selfish of me but you see when I was with Kai or Tyson, I didn't have to be the responsible one, I didn't have to look after anybody or think before acting. And I just absolutely enjoyed that. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my little sister. I love her to death and I'll freak out if anything happened to her but I was barely six years old at that time. I just wanted to play all day and have fun and not do the tasks that my mom should've been doing but was way too drunk to care."

"You were jealous." Hilary muttered quietly, not sure if he heard her.

"How petty is that right…" He let out a small, harsh laugh and then they were both silent for a while. Taichi sighed heavily and continued, "Yes, I was jealous. I was very jealous. Tyson used to spend all his time playing with me and Hikari-chan and we could stay at his place as for as long as we wanted and we didn't have to worry about home at all. But then you came along and he started hanging out with you more and well I don't blame him 'casue you're cute and all but I was mad and jealous so I took it out on you."

Hilary blushed slightly at the small compliment.

"I shouldn't have done that, it was really stupid of me but I couldn't help it, y'know? He didn't do anything to help me but he saved you. And I just..." He paused, unable to get the words out.

And she waited.

"I just wanted to get out of home and never go back. That's it. That's all I wanted."

"I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"For what?"

"For your parents and-"

"You don't need to apologise for anything. If anyone should be sorry it should be them. And me of course because I acted so childishly."

"You were a child so it's understandable. But I never knew about your parents and your home…"

"Trust me you _don't_ wanna know."

"But you know what? I'm really glad that you came here and told me all of this. I can see now how much Tyson's friendship means to you and I'm just really, _really_ happy." She smiled at him and it wasn't a forced or polite smile. It was a smile that was meant just for him.

He grinned at her, "I didn't just do this for Tyson, I was hoping that we could be friends too." He got up from his position and walked over to where she was sitting and held out his hand, his grin growing wider. And as she shook his hand, she couldn't help but grin back at him. He flopped down next to her and cleared his throat and in his nicest voice asked her, "So now that we're friends, you don't mind introducing me to Sora do you?"

Hilary laughed and turned to look at him, "Why do I have the feeling that _that_ is the real reason, you came here."

"Well, can't blame a guy for trying."

-x-

_kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume _

_(You and the end of summer and the dreams of the future)_

_ookina kibou wasurenai _

_(And our big hope, I won't forget them.)_

_juunengo no hachigatsu mata deaeru no o shinjite _

_(I believe that we will meet in August 10 years later.)_

_kimi ga saigo made kokoro kara "arigatou" _

_(I knew that you screamed "Thank You")_

_sakendeita koto shiteita yo _

_(From the bottom of your heart till the very end.)_

_namida o koraete egao de sayonara setsunai yo ne_

_(A goodbye when you hold back your tears and smile is lonely, isn't it. ) _

_saikou no omoide o..._

_(The best memories...)_

-x-

She was trying to burn herself to death. Well, not literally. She was hoping that she'd burn to death. The sun was shining brightly down at her and she was sitting comfortably in the stinging hot sand, drawing circles with her fingers. She felt a presence next to her so she turned to acknowledge the newcomer, sent a glare his side and returned to her circles. There was a moment of silence between the two.

"I got slapped."

"I got punched."

Charly smiled slightly as she looked up at him, "We deserved it."

Kai returned her small smile, "We kinda did."

"I just feel so ashamed of myself." She mumbled.

Kai stayed silent for a while, pondering over a few things and forming his reply carefully. When he spoke he made sure that he had her full attention, "Well you shouldn't be. I mean what you did was wrong. Very wrong. But good things came out of it."

She looked him in the eye, a little confused as to what he meant by good things and he read her mind and answered the unasked question instantly.

"If you wouldn't have locked us up in that room, I would never have had the courage to face Yamato after what I did. So, yes good things did come out of it."

She grinned and nudged him slightly, "Did you finally swallow your pride and apologised, Kai-chan?"

Kai flushed slightly, "Yes, yes I apologised." He muttered incoherently.

"I guess I should do the same then." She laughed.

"You don't need to apologise to anyone. Hilary doesn't blame you at all."

"She doesn't?" Charly asked, completely surprised by his statement.

"Nope. None of us do really. We're all actually glad you started this mess because at least now everything is sorted out and back to normal. And wait, I got something for you." He fished around in his bag and pulled out a slightly squashed box, handing it over to her, "A free dark chocolate pastry made by Cilan especially for you. That's Ash's way of saying sorry."

Charly opened the box and smiled at the delicious looking pastry inside, "That kid is too humble." She muttered.

"He is. But that's what makes him Ash."

"So no one is mad at me?" Charly asked as she bit into the pastry and had to stifle a moan as the chocolate melted in her mouth.

"Nope." Kai chuckled as he watched her devour the pastry in three quick bites and on an afterthought added, "Though you should stay away from Tyson for a little while. You know, just to be sure."

"I was just going to point that out."

Kai got up and dusted the sand off his clothes, smiling he offered his hand to Charly, "Let's go get something to eat. Knowing Ash, we might not need to pay at all."

Charly looked at his hand and then at his face again, a full-fledged grin broke out on her face as she held back the happy tears that were threatening to fall. Kai looked a little confused with her reaction but she just shook her head, dismissing it and took his hand. He pulled her up and they walked towards his car.

"Mind if Yama joins us?" Kai asked her, phone in one hand.

Charly tightened her grip on his other hand and shrugged, "Nope."

"Hey, Kai."

He looked up from his phone, an eyebrow raised.

She grinned at him, "I got your smile back."

-x-

_aa natsuyasumi mo ato sukoshi de owatchau kara _

_(Ah, summer break will be over in a little while too, so)_

_aa taiyou to tsuki nakayoku shite_

_(Ah, the sun and moon get along.)_

_kanashiku tte sabishiku tte kenka mo iroiro shita ne_

_(So sad, so lonely, we had so many fights)_

_futari no himitsu no kichi no naka_

_(Inside the secret base that belonged to the two of us.)_

_-x-_

The café was busier than usual and Misty was having a hard time keeping up with the orders. She was arranging some freshly made cookies for the display outside when a hand sneaked onto the plate trying to grab a cookie. She instinctively slapped the hand not bothering to look at the face. She heard a small 'ow', so she turned around to face the thief, the words ready in her mouth, "That is for the customers and not…" She trailed off as she watched Ash blow on his now slightly red hand, "You." She finished her sentence quietly and turned back to the cookies. Things had been a little awkward between them since the last few days and she couldn't afford to be distracted when they were working such a busy house. When she looked up again she saw that he was still standing there, just looking at her. This pissed her off a little.

"If you have time to just stand and stare at me, why don't you help out?" She spat out angrily as she picked up the plate with the cookies and walked out of the kitchen. She was sure that she saw him glare at her. But that was soon forgotten as the moment she exited the kitchen, she was swamped with more and more orders which left her with no time to contemplate on her feelings for Ash. Not that she had any. The next few hours were spent smiling at the customers, trying to fork in as many tips as possible. When she finally decided to take a 10 minute break inside the kitchen, she accidently bumped into Delia.

"Oh honey, I was just looking for you. Dawn called in sick, can you go get Ash? He's upstairs. Tell him I'm thinking about finally getting him a car that might do it." She smiled at the teen and left, not bothering to wait for Misty's reply.

Misty groaned as she made her way up the stairs. Sick, my ass! She's probably out stalking Paul, she thought to herself, making a mental note to annoy the young blunette for the details. She knocked on the door and was greeted by a nervous looking Jay who ushered her in hurriedly. A little too quickly. Misty knew exactly what that meant. Ash had been grumpy because of her and he had taken it out on his father. And Jay, being the nice person that he is had tried his best to talk to Ash who, Misty was sure, had just probably yelled at Jay for being so annoying. This was not new to Misty at all. Many a times she had helped Ash cool down after he barged into her room through the window because he had a fight with his Mom because of his Dad. As much as she tried to console him, she always told him that his Mom was right and everybody, no matter how bad their mistake was, deserved a second chance. Ash never liked the fact that she sided with his Mom but she knew that even just talking to her could make him feel better.

Jay smiled at her, "He's in his room."

Misty nodded and smiled back, making her way towards his room. She knocked (or according to Ash, banged) on the door and yelled, "It's me. Open up. Your Mom wants you to come down and help."

"I'm sorry, tell her I don't have the time."

Misty gritted her teeth, she had to hold back her urge to break down the door and punch him in the face. She took a few deep breaths and then in a sickly sweet voice replied, "She said she's thinking of buying you a car."

The reaction was instant. She heard a loud thud which was probably him falling off the bed in excitement and that image made her snort loudly.

And that's when Ash opened the door, he sent a smirk towards the redhead, "That's not very ladylike."

She made a face at him and started walking towards the door, Jay waved at her and she waved back with a smile, which obviously earned her a glare from Ash. She didn't bother to check. He was trailing behind her, trying to look annoyed but couldn't because he was probably thinking about cars and the excitement would occasionally creep up on his face. The redhead was trying her best to not look at him, because she was supposed to be mad at him. And if she looked, she'll laugh and she didn't want that. Well, she did want that, she did want to laugh at him and with him. She wanted to be able to talk to him again. But she knew it would never be the same because of what she had said.

They walked down the stairs quietly and Misty wondered if she had meant what she had said. She thought about the first time she had met Ash. She had been having the worst day of her life courtesy of her sisters and he had still somehow managed to make her laugh. Being with him had made her forget all the nasty things her sisters had done to her. He had told her that her sisters must've been blind because he had never seen such a pretty hair colour before. Of course at that time she had thought he was just flirting with her. But when she started hanging out with him more she realised that Ash was not like that at all. He wasn't afraid to say what he felt, he never kept his thoughts inside, he was kind and dorky and stupid and gullible and stubborn and a little less hot-headed than her. He always kept his word, wasn't ashamed of the fact that he was a cry-baby and usually wasn't annoyed of the fact that people always ended up taking advantage of him. Growing up with her evil sister, Misty couldn't believe the fact that people like him existed. But there he was, walking right behind her, trying his best to look pissed off. As they entered the café territory, Misty stopped suddenly and turned around to face him.

"I meant what I said that day. I'm not your best friend." She searched his face for any emotions but came up with none. She looked down and turned around to leave when a hand grabbed her arm from behind, pulling her back.

"I know. You're so much more."

And before she could react to that, his lips were on her s, his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. Her eyes fluttered close as she put her arms around his neck, letting her hands run through his black, messy hair. Though the kiss barely lasted a few seconds, Misty was sure it was much, much longer than a few seconds. Ash grinned down at her and she felt the colour rise in her cheeks. His own face was tinted red but he didn't care as he planted a chaste kiss on her forehead.

And that's when she heard it.

The hooting and the clapping. She turned around to find almost the whole café clapping and shouting 'Finally' or 'Congrats' or 'Good for you, Ketchum'. And of course, there was Taichi-kun who was whistling loudly, and Charly who was hooting, Tyson was just laughing, Yamato was grinning and Kai was just smiling. Delia looked to be on the verge of tears as she smiled lovingly at her son. Hilary winked at her and Misty turned around and buried her face in Ash's shoulders.

He just laughed and pulled her closer.

-x-

The En-

No wait, not really.

-x-

The five boys squirmed uncomfortably under the tearful gaze of Mimi Tachikawa.

"Do we really have to do this?"

Mimi let out a small sniff as a few tears threatened to fall and turned her attention fully towards Kai, "Please, Kai-chan?"

A few feet behind Mimi, Charly and Misty were trying to control their laughter as they watched the pretty brunette blackmail the boys.

"Wow, she's really good at this." Hilary muttered.

"Crying on demand is Mimi's number one talent." Sora replied, "If you don't count, talking people to death." She added.

"Ugh, fine, fine! Let's do it." Kai groaned in frustration.

"No, I am not doing this."

Mimi's eyes turned to focus on the annoyed blonde. The threatening tears dried up immediately. She glared daggers at him as he blatantly ignored her. She didn't understand what was wrong with him. Her charm used to work on everyone, even Kai-chan couldn't resist her pout. Everyone but him. And it naturally meant that she hated him.

"Oh Yama, don't be such a sourpuss. Do you really want Mimi-chan to cry?" Taichi grinned at his non-friend.

"Frankly, I don't give a damn if she-"

"Right, so let's just get this over with alright?" Tyson cut him off as he put an arm around the blonde's shoulder, just to make sure that the latter didn't run.

Mimi smiled gratefully at all of them except one. The only one who returned her smile was the raven haired boy standing in the middle, looking as happy as ever. She pulled out the dreaded object from her bag and Kai paled slightly.

Taichi locked his arms with the older teen, "You're not getting away."

Mimi grinned, choosing to ignore their uneasiness, she held up her black camera.

"Say cheese!"

-x-

_kimi ga saigo made kokoro kara "arigatou" _

_(I knew that you screamed "Thank You")_

_sakendeita koto shiteita yo _

_(From the bottom of your heart till the very end.)_

_namida o koraete egao de sayonara setsunai yo ne_

_(A goodbye when you hold back your tears and smile is lonely, isn't it. ) _

_saikou no omoide o..._

_(The best memories...)_

-x-

The End

-x-


	11. The Aftermath

**A/N:** So just a small idea that popped up in my head, hope you enjoy it.

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own them.

-x-

"I had nothing to do with this." Ash repeated for the hundredth time. He was standing in the bathroom, facing the mirror practicing his speech for when Kai found out what they had done. And by they, Ash meant Tyson and Taichi. Only Tyson and Taichi. Not him. He had nothing to do with this. Sure he was present when the two carried out the crime, but it's not like he took part in it. Sure he could've stopped them but they didn't even listen to Yamato. What were the chances of them listening to the pipsqueak.

So to back up a little, everything had been going just fine, until Kai decided to get back at Tyson for the punch. Now it had been a harmless prank where Kai easily replaced all of Tyson's books and notebooks with Playboy magazines and then very politely reminded Hilary that she should go help him with the homework. Naturally, she didn't talk to Tyson for a whole week and naturally Taichi and Yamato couldn't stop laughing at him. Now they could've easily forgotten about this and moved on with their lives, but no.

Taichi declared war.

Of course they didn't turn against each other, they'd just gang up, pick a target and make him pay. Ash's favourite one had been when Tyson and Kai convinced Yamato that they'd arranged a gig for him at one of the best bars in town. They handed him an address, wished him luck and shuffled him off towards the best night of his life. And Ash had to agree, it was the best night of his life, if not Yamato's. Tyson and Kai hadn't been lying when they'd said that they'd booked a gig for him and neither had been lying when they'd said it was one of the best bars in town. Only they had failed to mention that the gig had nothing to do with Yamato's musical abilities and the best bar in town just happened to be a male stripper bar. Oh the look on Yamato's face had been priceless.

And the worst one had to be when the other four somehow convinced Misty to tell his mom that she was pregnant. Ash almost got kicked out of the house and that's when Yamato had smugly informed him that the look on his face had been priceless.

Ash took a deep breath and repeated once again, "I had nothing to do with this." He decided it was best to hang out at the café before the apocalypse started. He noticed the two spawns of Satan happily enjoying lunch with Hilary. He went to join them, sitting next to Taichi. One look at his pale face and Hilary put down her fork turning to look at Tyson.

"Are you gonna eat that?" He asked, pointing towards her half eaten plate of white sauce pasta.

Ignoring his question, she narrowed her ruby eyes at him, "What did you do?"

It was at this precise moment when Taichi tried to steal some pasta from her plate and had his hand slapped away.

"Nothing." Tyson replied casually.

She turned to look at Taichi who just clicked his tongue, "That's very mean of you Hilary-chan. Judging us like that."

She scoffed at him and picked up her fork again, looking at Ash she said, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

That's because he had. There he was standing a few feet away from their table, his face filled with nothing but rage holding the, _the thing_. Hilary's eyes followed Ash's stare and she let out a small gasp.

"I had nothing to do with this!" Shouted Ash as he dived under the table. Tyson and Taichi abandoned their food (for the first time in their lives) and sprinted towards the café doors. Kai, who could only be described as fucking angry, followed them out.

That thing flowing behind him.

When Ash finally decided to surface from under the table, he was met with Hilary's questioning look, "What the hell was Kai holding?"

Ash gulped, "His muffler."

Hilary's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh no they didn't." She whispered.

Ash just nodded meekly in reply. Kai's trademark white muffler was no longer white. It was now a rainbow muffler. Ash had no idea how Tyson and Taichi had managed to pull that off. But Taichi had assured him several times that the dye was not permanent and it'll wash off after two or three tries. He wondered if Kai would listen to that reason. He shivered as he realised that Kai would do no such thing and Tyson and Taichi were as good as dead.

"When will this end?" Hilary muttered to herself.

Ash wasn't the one who answered her but the blonde who joined them with a smirk playing on his lips, "It'll take a while."

The look on Yamato's face could only mean one thing.

Ash couldn't help but groan.

-x-


End file.
